{"id":2376764,"date":"2026-04-16T22:48:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2376764"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:48:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:48:56","slug":"the-science-of-gossip-and-why-everyone-does-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-science-of-gossip-and-why-everyone-does-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The science of gossip (and why everyone does it)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n <\/span>celebrity.land<\/span>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>
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\n People feed off gossip. It\u2019s one reason why, in the 1960s, the National Enquirer swapped the gory, gruesome headlines <\/a>they were known for with celebrity scoops and scandal. The switch gave the tabloid access to supermarket checkout lines and the \u201cenquiring minds\u201d<\/a> in them.\n <\/p>\n

\n But it\u2019s not just\u00a0tabloid readers\u00a0who love to dish. Social scientists have found that everyone is hardwired to pay attention to gossip, and to participate in it. In fact, it\u2019s an evolutionary adaptation \u2013 it\u2019s become human nature to spill the tea.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re the descendants of people who were good at this,\u201d said Frank McAndrew, a psychology professor at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. \u201cIn prehistoric times, people who were fascinated by the lives of other people were more successful.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n McAndrew, an expert on human social behavior and gossip<\/a>, explains that to thrive in the time of cavemen, we had to know what was happening with the people around us.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWho is sleeping with whom? Who has power? Who has access to resources? And if you weren\u2019t good at that, you weren\u2019t very successful,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Gossip generally has a negative connotation, especially when you think about hurtful rumors, or tabloids and a person\u2019s right to privacy.\n <\/p>\n

\n But in everyday life, researchers say, our chatter about other people tends to be relatively boring and neutral and serves its own unique purpose.\n <\/p>\n

\n Most researchers define gossip as talking about someone who isn\u2019t present and sharing information that isn\u2019t widely known.\n <\/p>\n

\n And according to an analysis <\/a>by researchers at the University of California Riverside, the average person spends 52 minutes every day doing exactly that.\n <\/p>\n

\n Yet the majority of our gossip is harmless. About 15% of our gabbing involves negative judgment \u2013 or what researchers call \u201cevaluative\u201d \u2013 but outside of that, the average person is just documenting facts, such as \u201cshe\u2019s stuck late at work,\u201d or \u201che had to go to the hospital.\u201d This kind of neutral chitchat actually helps us build friendships, community or learn information that\u2019s vital for having a social life, said Megan Robbins, a UC Riverside psychology professor.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou can establish a relationship by talking about other people and finding out something about others in the group,\u201d she said. \u201cEven for those types of gossip that are evaluative, you\u2019re saying, \u2018I\u2019m trusting you with this information.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Although gossiping is often stereotyped as a feminine, low-class or uneducated pastime, Robbins said that everyone does it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur data debunked all of the stereotypes,\u201d Robbins said. \u201cAs a social species, we have to talk about people. We don\u2019t live in isolation, and we talk about people who inevitably sometimes are not present.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Everyone gossips \u2013 and it\u2019s not all bad
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\n The practice becomes <\/strong>purely harmful when it doesn\u2019t provide any opportunity for social learning, scientists say, such as with rude comments about someone\u2019s appearance or health and comments that are blatantly untrue.\n <\/p>\n

\n Where judgmental or negative gossip can be useful is when it provides cultural learning and compels people to behave better.\n <\/p>\n

\n Robbins said there is compelling research that gossip might serve as a check on people\u2019s moral behavior, deterring potential cheaters or slackers in a group setting because we care about our reputations and the risk of others gossiping about our bad decisions.\n <\/p>\n

\n It can also be a way to figure out unwritten rules. For example, when we start a new job, the water cooler talk helps us find out what is acceptable office attire, who we might want to avoid working with on a team project, and whether it\u2019s acceptable to take a monthlong vacation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cSharing gossip with someone is a bonding mechanism,\u201d McAndrew said. \u201cIt does kind of increase morale.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n This human habit isn\u2019t limited to a certain age group. Sociology professor Stacy Torres studied this habit among elderly people<\/a> living alone in New York city. Her research revealed that older adults engaged in gossip at local restaurants and shops as a way to connect with others, maintain social ties and combat loneliness.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is something that we see across different cultures and different ages, although it may sort of take a different flavor,\u201d said Torres. \u201cA lot of them would say, \u2018Oh I don\u2019t want to partake,\u2019 or \u2018I need to watch what I say,\u2019 but then would show up every day and participate.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Torres, who is now based at the University of California San Francisco, added that gossip gives us the opportunity to vent about people while allowing us to still maintain positive social ties with them overall. Even when the elders\u2019 gossip seemed to be negative or rude, it usually came from a place of thoughtfulness.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey had nicknames for each other, some that were disparaging, but it was obvious they were thinking about each other,\u201d Torres said. For example, they\u2019d call each other names but then tack on a comment about reaching out to them: \u2018Has anyone heard from old so-and-so?\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere was an element of concern,\u201d Torres said, \u201cand they were checking on (each other).\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Humans are hardwired to care about the lives of people who are friends, foes or family. Researchers call those people \u201csocially important.\u201d But why do we care about famous people we\u2019ve never actually met?\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on is that our caveman brains are unprepared to deal with (modern communication). In those days, if you knew a lot about someone, by definition they were socially important to you,\u201d McAndrew said.\n <\/p>\n

\n This is especially true today thanks to the internet and social media, which means <\/strong>we know a lot about people we don\u2019t actually know. Being privy to that information tricks our brains into thinking celebrities are socially important to our lives. One of McAndrew\u2019s studies showed that we even gravitate toward celebrity tabloid stories about people of the same gender and age group.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey\u2019re our cohort \u2013 they might be our rivals or allies,\u201d McAndrew explained. \u201cConsciously, you know they don\u2019t matter and you\u2019re not going to meet them, but they press the same buttons in our brains as people who do matter to us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Celebrity gossip also gives us common ground with others. Pop culture knowledge gives us something to talk about during those awkward small talk encounters or at parties where we don\u2019t know many people.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou might even think about keeping up with celebrities as a social skill,\u201d McAndrew said. \u201cIt makes you know about things that other people care about.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n If you\u2019re worried that your gossip is excessive or otherwise harmful, start by examining the reasons why you think you have an issue, McAndrew said, as it may be that you\u2019re not using the skill appropriately.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBad gossipers are either people who indiscriminately blab everything they have heard to anyone who will listen, or they are individuals with a clearly selfish agenda in which gossip is designed to damage the reputations of their rivals,\u201d he said. Those who do it well \u201cknow things but are trusted to be discreet. They have the well-being of others on their radar.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n If you notice that \u201cyour gossip is hurting your relationships or taking time away from other things you need to be doing,\u201d McAndrew said, it may be time to cut back. He suggested you try avoiding the situations or people that bring out the worst in you.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source edition.celebrity.land.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

celebrity.land\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 People feed off gossip. It\u2019s one reason why, in the 1960s, the National Enquirer swapped the gory, gruesome headlines they were known for with celebrity scoops and scandal. The switch gave the tabloid access to supermarket checkout lines and the \u201cenquiring minds\u201d in them. But it\u2019s not just\u00a0tabloid readers\u00a0who love to dish. Social scientists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2376765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[21792,21796,426053,21751,426057,426055,376650,360146,462606,380206],"class_list":["post-2376764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-business","tag-business-and-industry-sectors","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-and-pop-culture","tag-economy-and-trade","tag-media-industry","tag-newspapers","tag-publishing-industry","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-science-of-gossip-and-why-everyone-does-it.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2376764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376766,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2376764\/revisions\/2376766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2376765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2376764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2376764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2376764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}